The philosophical, rhetorical, and dramatic passages which add so much splendor to the works of Guicciardini are absent from the pages of Nardi.

He is anxious to present a clear picture of what happened; but he cannot make it animated, and he never reflects at length upon the matter of his history.

At the same time he lacks the _naiivete_ which makes Corio, Allegretti, Infessura, and Matarazzo so amusing.

He gossips as little as Machiavelli, and has no profundity to make up for the want of piquancy.

The interest of his chronicle is greatest in the part which concerns Savonarola, though even here the peculiarly reticent and dubitative nature of the man is obvious.